ready reckoner
by justalittle l o o n y
Summary: "consider this." -thirty-three times the nextgen thought they could be lucky in love.
1. lucyteddy: functional

a/n:: so, this is the start of yet another collection (i'll really try to finish this one this time, okay?), in which i will write every het, non-cousincest pairing in the nextgen. there shall be ocs for the males. loads of other people at the ngf are doing it too, so you should check out theirs!

so, yeah, this one's a lucyteddy, and it's 3,040 words.

* * *

He sweeps. And he ignores most of the girls with their petty stares and giggles, but he doesn't ignore Lucy, because her embarrassment and the creeping of red up her neck might just be the most awful part of this job.

Still, he sweeps, because he needs the money.

Timothy Hammond's score for The Prince and The Pauper is their warm-up music for today, and he nearly dies from the bitterness flooding through his veins- he could look like the fucking prince if he wanted to, so why isn't he rich yet?

She's still blushing over there in the back of the room, her dark-haired friend attempting to comfort her and the haughty-looking blonde boy smirking at him as he pliés. "Oi!" he shouts, somehow keeping perfect time even in his antagonism, "there's not nearly enough wax over here."

The teacher shushes the boy, but she turns back to him apologetically anyway. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lupin, but Fitzwilliam is right, we really do need a bit of wax over there."

He glares at the ground, not angry at the teacher, angry at the world and at his own stubbornness, because he could take Harry's money and he wouldn't have to work jobs like this, but he's _too damn proud. _He walks over with the mop and floor wax, and right _there, _in the part of the song when the prince gets caught, he aims a kick at Mister Hoity-Toity blonde guy. The guy wobbles and the teacher yells and Teddy whispers mockingly, "I'm not the one wearing fucking tights, _Fitzwilliam_."

Remarkably, he doesn't get fired.

* * *

"You shouldn't have done that," she tells him, walking down the stairs outside of the ballet academy towards him, one red barrel curl jumping out from behind her ear. He looks at her skeptically. "Kicked Fitz- really, you shouldn't have."

He bends down to tie his shoe, his butt leaning against the brick wall and his hair a fantastic shade of scarlet red today. "Oh yeah?" he asks. "Why is that?" He knows what her answer will be- she's Lucy Weasley, sweetest girl in the whole family, and even if her latest hobby is a bit pretentious (never mind that she's been doing it for five years, it's still her latest hobby to him), she's still the nice, loyal girl who was sorted into Hufflepuff seven years ago. Her answer will be something along the lines of: 'It's not the right thing to do.'

"Because there were scouts in the studio," she tells him, her royal blue pea coat flapping in the wind. "And just one mistake can lose you an internship, especially if your background is as sketchy as his is."

He straightens up slowly, struggling to comprehend the fact that Lucy's reason for

him not to do something cruel is filled with ambition and job-hunting, not kindness and love. "Sketchy background?" he finally says, because there's no way to argue with what she's saying (it makes far too much sense, and _he _could hardly disagree about the gravity of mistakes in front of scouts).

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Teddy-" she says impatiently. "I know he's a bit of an arse so far, but he's new to our ballet school and he's probably just stressed out- Anna went on a date with him and she says he's a really nice guy, I promise you." He raises an eyebrow- that still doesn't explain the sketchy background, and he doesn't exactly trust her judgement on who's a nice person. She sighs exasperatedly and throws her hands up in the air. "For Merlin's sake, Teddy, _I _have a sketchy background! All of the wizards do, it's because we didn't go to proper Muggle schools."

He frowns, because lack of proper schooling has just reminded him of something else. "Luce, why'd you look so embarrassed today? In the studio?"

She blushes and looks at the ground uncomfortably, and he sighs. Of course- she's embarrassed by him. "Well, it's just that," she starts, tucking the flyaway curl behind her ear, "you're _sweeping. _Teddy, you're a common maintenance man!" Suddenly she looks frustrated, and it occurs to him that maybe this wasn't a good topic to bring up. "I know you'd be capable of more than that- all of us do, yet you still deny Uncle Harry's offer of money, and my dad's offer of a job, and it just _doesn't make sense!_" She finishes in an annoyed rush, wrinkles forming on her brow and her nose scrunching up in a way that makes her look less like an eighteen year old ballet dancer and more like a petulant five year old. "I can't figure it out, Teddy!" she says loudly, throwing her hands up in the air, and he realizes he's chosen a topic that clearly plagues her mind often- it worries him, that she thinks about him that much. "You're capable of fame and fortune, and you don't do anything about it! What's wrong with you?"

His face shuts down at this. He hates being asked that. There's nothing wrong with him, thank you very much. He's just not an ambitious person. He was a Gryffindor, not a Slytherin. She should know that. After all, she was a Hufflepuff- but it's in that moment of thinking that he remembers the Hufflepuff desire for hard work, and he wonders if somewhere in Lucy's mind, that has gotten confused with ambition. "There's nothing wrong with me," he snaps, all of today's annoyance pouring out in a sudden rush. "I just don't have the supreme desire to do the nine-to-five work thing, okay?"

She looks furious at this, and he makes up his mind that he doesn't want to continue this conversation. He can't deal with ambition right now- he just can't. He turns and disapparates away to the sound of her shouting, "I'm a fucking ballet dancer, Teddy! I don't want a nine-to-five job either!"

He's never heard Lucy swear before.

* * *

_Dearest Teddy,_

_I'm sorry, there's nothing wrong with you. I was just under a bit of stress that day- my legs aren't long enough to do a particular move, and Madame Luz talked to me after rehearsal, and I took it out on you. _

_Plus, there have been other things. I won't go into detail, but. _

_I'm not embarrassed of you, alright? Well, maybe a little, because you look like a right dork trying to sweep in time to Hammond, of all pieces- but not because of your job. _

_Not much, anyway._

_I'm just not very good with slackers- Merlin, not that you're a slacker, but-_

_Argh, I'm awful at letters. Roxy got the writing skill, not me. _

_I'm sorry. _

_-Lucy_

He gets this letter a month after she yells at him in the back alley. He's still working in the ballet academy, of course, but he always manages to avoid her rehearsals. It's not on purpose- there are mornings when he wakes up and desperately wants to see her, but there's something that's keeping them apart, and it's not like he'll wait outside for her.

He saw how well that turned out last time.

But he takes one look at the letter she sends him and knows that it's a cry for help, and he's nothing if he's not a knight in shining armour. He's a Gryffindor, remember, and he can't stand by and watch Lucy fall away like this. He apparates to her dorm at the ballet school, and _whoa._

Suddenly, her needing help is not that much of a surprise, and the words of her letter (that he'd so carelessly left at his flat, _dammit_) come together in a shocking force in his mind: '_Plus, there have been other things. I won't go into detail, but.' _ Because this hallway is a nightmare. There are girls stretching themselves into positions no human should ever be in, (and oh god, looking at their feet with squashed toes makes his stomach curl and he wonders if Lucy's feet look like that too) there are girls spinning madly, practicing even though their day is supposed to be over, and the worst is the overwhelming layer of smoke.

He decides that, screw dragon-chasing, ballet might be the most dangerous career he's ever seen. He taps one girl on the shoulder to ask her where Lucy's room is and nearly chokes because when she turns around, she blows an entire breath full of smoke into his face. "You shouldn't do that," he tells her, and she visibly flinches.

"I-" she starts, and her voice is so timid and quiet, he wonders how on earth she even has the strength to lift the cigarette to her mouth, let alone do the extremely intense daily workout that he knows dancers have to deal with. "I might quit," she stutters out, but she won't, he knows.

He sighs, not bothering to continue arguing his point- a few words from a stranger aren't going to stop her. "Where's Lucy?" he asks, recognizing this girl as Anna, Lucy's best friend.

Anna shakes her head. "I-" she chokes out, before stopping again. Her eyes widen as though she has seen a ghost, and before he can even ask her what happened, she has run away.

This place is a nuthouse, he decides, before a willowy girl with long blonde hair and frighteningly bright blue eyes taps him on the shoulder. "You're a boy," she tells him, then shakes her head. "No, you're a man. What are you doing here?" It's all said without punctuation, and he wonders if someone ever taught this girl proper grammar.

"Where is Lucy Weasley's room?" he asks in return, sensing that normal societal pleasantries will only confuse her. "I'm her-" he stops, trying to figure out what to say. Considering recent events, he's not sure if his normal introduction is even applicable anymore. "-I'm Teddy," he finishes, his hair flickering to a light pink in embarrassment before returning to today's messy brown curls.

The girl giggles, turns around and jerks her head in a disjointed way that makes him think that maybe she's not entirely right in the head. "Her Teddy," she half-hums, and he sort of wonders what she's on about before she turns around so suddenly and gracefully that he nearly falls over her. "Here's her door," she says in a sing-song voice. "I'm her roommate," she says a bit too loudly, "so don't stay too long."

She pirouettes down the hallway before he can answer, and he wonders whether he should stay here forever just to make sure that girl doesn't murder Lucy in her sleep or something.

But then Lucy opens her door and peers down the hall and sighs. "Ah, I see you've met Ophelia," she says. "She's a bit odd, occasionally, but she makes lovely pastries." He shakes his head. It's so _Lucy _to make friends with a crazy girl, he can't help beaming. "Come on in," she says, and everything is okay again.

* * *

"So, these girls," he says, sitting on her bed and trying very hard not to stare at her legs as she lifts one into a completely vertical position up against the wall. "Are they all mad, or is that just limited to the ones you're friends with?" He winces, because that came out sounding a bit harsher than he intended it to.

To his surprise and relief, she giggles. She hops away from the wall, her leg still pointing directly up at the ceiling, then suddenly, with a speed he doesn't know was possible, swings said leg around into a perfect 90 degree angle with her other leg. It's an amazing thing to watch, and he nearly starts clapping, but then she sighs. "Ugh, I can never get that one right," she says, sitting down on the bed next to him. He double-takes. _That _was incorrect? "I need to practice more, or I'll never get cast…" she trails off and sighs. "But you're here, so I won't bore you with ballet drama!" she chirps, and he smiles. Back to friendly, optimistic Lucy. That's the one he can handle.

"I met Anna as well," he says as an explanation for his previous question. "She seemed a little-" he thinks back to his her reluctant, halting way of talking, "-timid."

"Timid?" Lucy asks, tilting her head to one side, confusion evident in her face. "Anna's hardly timi- _oh._" She puts a hand to her mouth. "_Oh no,_" she breathes, and suddenly stands up. "I'm sorry, Teddy, I know you just got here and you probably want to talk, but I've just realized something, and I need to go help out a friend." She hurriedly slides her feet into a pair of flats, (her toes are perfectly fine, he notices, and breathes a sigh of relief) shoulders her bag and gives him a quick hug. "Thank you for stopping by- you can just apparate out, I think."

She races out of the room and he's left with the sad reality of the moment: he came to help her, and didn't get to because _she _wanted to help her friend.

* * *

"I didn't say you were a bad dancer, Anna, that's just another fucking inference-"

"You said that you didn't make me a bad dancer! That implies it!"

"No, Merlin, I didn't mean that- you know I just get angry when I see you having the capability to outshine all of these girls and you don't."

"But I-"

"I know you're trying, but maybe you could try a little harder? For me? I know you could be brilliant, but you're just not right now."

Lucy winces. "Fitz, you _arse_," she whispers in response to the argument they've been listening to through the walls. Teddy looks at her in surprise- is it just him, or has she started swearing a lot more since ballet?- only to look away quickly, feeling like he's intruded on something. Her face just has so much anger and pity in it, it's just so _raw, _it makes him realize that this is not his Lucy from before. This Lucy is harsh, still caring and sweet, but with a layer of something else there.

"Why doesn't she break up with him?" he asks, just to hear her explain. He can see in her face that she wants to rant, even if he sort of understands where Anna is coming from (dysfunctional relationships have their high points, and sometimes those make it difficult to remember the low points).

"I don't _know_!" she seethes, glaring at the wall as though it is its pale yellow wallpaper that has done the cruelty, not the person behind it. "Every time they fight, he somehow calms down and apologizes and buys her dinner. I try to remind her of what he's doing, but she loves him too much to want to leave."

He flinches. He's used that technique before, on girls who've experienced the side of him he doesn't like- it's awful to see in other people.

"Oh, Teddy, you're not like him," Lucy says, apparently having seen his face and figured out what he was thinking.

"I got you angry," he points out, remembering back to that day in the alley only four months ago. "And we're still sitting here now." He swallows, a lump coming to his throat as he remembers how _mean, _how _harsh _the words sounded as they shot out of his mouth.

"Yes, but ours is a functional relationship. When we fight, we give each other time to think, and we agree to disagree, and we still get along, as _equals, _afterwards," she points out, and he breathes a sigh of relief as his own worries about their relationship soothed. "So," she says, standing up and picking up her ballet shoes. "I've got to go practice and maybe convince Anna to eat something, but dinner tonight at Elsie's?"

He nods, follows her out the door, and attempts to prevent the silly grin from spreading all over his entire face.

* * *

He sweeps.

This time he doesn't try to pathetically sweep along to the music, as he's not entirely sure what he'd do when it got to the climax of the song (this time, it's Swan Lake)- he can barely spin more than one time in a row without getting dizzy, and lifting his leg up is out of the question.

Yes, once again, he's assigned to sweep her ballet room, and Fitzwilliam Creevey still gives him ugly looks, and Anna just stares at the ground (and this time he notices the tall, blonde, willowy girl at the back of the room, smiling serenely as she makes some batlike movement that's completely different from everyone else's), but this time, it's alright.

Lucy's not blushing. Instead, she stares at a point just above his head as she spots, and he knows that while she still doesn't understand why he doesn't take Harry's money, (they haven't discussed it, aside from their argument six months ago) she accepts it. Best of all, her acceptance is not solely 'because she loves him.' Theirs is a functional relationship, and eventually, there will be something that she does that _he _disagrees with.

He shakes his head, grinning exasperatedly at the thought. _That _will be an experience.


	2. rosescorpius: a sad experiment

a/n:: so, this, quite frankly, sucks. i wish i could make it better, seeing as i really like the idea, but oh well.

this is a rosescorpius, and it's 2,008 words, from what i can see.

* * *

|June 17th, 2023|

"You all," the tall redhead shouts from her standing position on the edge of one of Hogwarts' bridges, "are a bunch of sexist, chauvinistic, romantic _pricks_." The whole crowd that has gathered around falls silent; no sounds breaking her speech but the crash of the river below against the rocks.

"For the past ten months, I've been asking Scorpius Malfoy out-"

|September 2nd, 2022|

"Go out with me, Malfoy?"

"Never in a million years, Weasley."

|June 17th, 2023.|

"-and getting rejected. And I've been called desperate, slutty, a whore- anything you all can throw at me." She stares at them all defiantly, daring any one of them to deny it. No one does.

"You, Kaylyn Eckerbrook, made a comment about how if I stopped, I _might _be able to get a date with the Giant Squid," she says bitterly, pointing at a petite blonde girl in her audience that immediately bursts into tears.

"And you, Francesca Samuels, called me a desperate whore no less than fifty-seven times," she accuses, pointing at another girl, who looks down to the ground in shame.

She shakes her head exasperatedly. "And it only got worse once you all got used to me doing it."

|November 26th, 2023.|

"How much do you want to bet Weasley writes his name on the ceiling today?" a pimple-faced first year asks his friend.

"Nah, she wouldn't do that," his friend tells him, "too subtle." They both snicker and watch as Rose charms a flower to sing and Malfoy's face turns purple with embarrassment.

"Yeah," the friend agrees, "I don't think Weasley has a subtle bone in her body."

|June 17th, 2023.|

"Hell, even you, Molly," she shouts, anger seeping into her voice, "my own _cousin, _spread a rumour about howthe reason I couldn't get a boy was because I was one." She shakes her head again, this time in disgust. "Not to even _mention _the homophobic implications of that- do you have no sense of loyalty?"

The brunette in the audience that she has pointed at looks regretful and opens her mouth to apologize, but she's shouldered in the side by her friend. The two glare at each other for a few moments, before Molly opens her mouth again. "You're weird," she says in a matter-of-fact tone, though she looks miserable, "deal with it."

Rose rolls her eyes. "Clearly I'm not going to, seeing as I'm standing up here," she tells her. "Oh, yes, the reason I'm here." She looks at them, sudden faux-kindness appearing in her voice. "You all know the story of James and Lily Potter, don't you?"

A few people in the crowd appear confused and look for the fifth year girl, but Rose stomps her foot impatiently, which reminds them of where she is standing and gathers their attention once more. "Not her," she lectures, "the older ones."

|April 10th, 2017.|

"Oh, it's so romantic," Kelsi Fortescue tells Petra Davies. "He just asked her out and asked her out and asked her out until she said yes, and then they got married."

"I'm all for the birth of Uncle Harry," Rose comments, stretching out on her bed, "but it seems a bit sketchy to me." Noting their looks of shock, she rolls her eyes. "Oh, don't get so offended. It's just- don't you think it's weird that he asked her out constantly and never took no for an answer? Sounds like a violation of her privacy, if you ask me."

"It's not a violation!" Kelsi shouts hotly. "It's a demonstration of true love! You're just jealous of what they had."

Rose shrugs and lays back in bed. "Jealous of my uncle's grandparents? I hope not." Still, this gets her thinking. Why is it considered so romantic in some circumstances?

|June 17th, 2023|

"I've been hearing girls talk about how romantic he was ever since you all learned what the word romantic meant," she says, half-laughing. "And, you know what, back when I was immature and young and I didn't see what was so great about being wanted and having someone ask you out, I thought it was a bit of a creepy story. Kelsi Fortescue and Petra Davies can attest to that. And, yes, as I got older, I started understanding why maybe it was a show of love, but I still hated the double-standard of it.

"And that's when the question popped in my mind. What if a girl asked out a guy, got rejected, and yet kept asking? What would people think?" The audience begins to whisper, and she gives a satisfied smirk. The smart ones are starting to get it- what she has been doing all year. "As you've all proven, people would _not _think the same thing." She tosses her hair, and this causes her to lose her balance a bit, which makes her wobble, and suddenly it's _obvious _to everyone exactly where she's standing and what she's going to do, and she gives them a fierce glare. "Yes, I'm going to jump," she shouts.

"Rose, they're sorry, I'm sure, please come down," her best friend Shari attempts, but Rose shakes her head.

"I thought someone might say that. And so I ask of you- are you truly sorry? Do you regret what you said to me?" Most people nod vigorously, but she detects a few people with uncertainty on their faces and snorts. "I knew it."

|August 4th, 2022|

"Hey, er, Rose, right?" the blonde boy asks, coming up to her in her seat outside of Florean Fortescue's. She lifts her sunglasses up and puts down her bite of pistachio ice cream.

"Yeah. What of it?"

He swallows nervously. "I don't really know you too well, but I think I might like you?" She raises an eyebrow- they've talked a few times, but most of what she knows of him is that he's a bit nutters, but he takes some sort of potion to curb it.

"This isn't so I'll make you a better Delusion Potion, is it?" she asks lazily, scooping up a spoonful of ice cream and eating it calmly.

"No, I mean, I do know you're a good Potions maker, but that's not why. I think you're really interesting." She nods slowly, because she's never been called _interesting _before, so maybe this boy is something.

"Sure, I'll go out with you, Scorpius," she tells him, pointing the spoon at him. "And I'll even make a deal with you." This time, he's the one raising an eyebrow. "You know how everyone loves the whole boy-asks-out-girl-until-she-says-yes story?"

"It's completely ridiculous," he says sincerely, and she likes him even more because of it. Yes, she's going to like being in a relationship with him.

"I wouldn't put it that far, but it is a bit odd. So, I've been planning a bit of an experiment," she explains, gesturing for him to sit down. He does, with a look of interest on his face. "You see, what it would require is…"

|June 17th, 2023|

"What most of you don't know, however," she begins, "is that Scorpius and I have been dating since July of last year. It would be a year in exactly 14 days." Her audience breaks out into a sea of confused giggles. "But I decided to keep it secret, and he agreed to me, for the sake of a little social experiment. And you all failed."

Silence. Utter silence.

"My hypothesis was that a girl who persistently asked out a bloke would not be treated in the same way as a bloke who persistently asked out a girl, and look, I was completely correct. You all proved it- and awfully, I might add."

She almost has a cheerful tone in her voice as she continues. "So, to reiterate: you all are sexist pigs, I had a fucking awful nine months of being called a slut, and I'm going to jump because of it." She waits for someone to protest, and though many open their mouths, all they come up with are the generic 'please don't do this,' and 'come down and we'll talk about it,' until one person shouts out of the crowd.

"Attention-seeking bitch!"

She fixes a cold stare on the person. "Gee, aren't you a sadistic little prick- calling a suicidal girl one last name. Oh, well, it's a shame you're going to represent society with those last words." She turns to Shari, and her group of cousins, some of whom are silently crying, others who look angry. "I truly am sorry for you lot, seeing as you did nothing wrong, and I'll miss you, and you'll probably miss me. Good bye."

And she jumps.

|February 14th, 2023|

"You know, Scorpius, at some point I'm going to commit suicide," she tells him from her position laying on a hill.

He looks over at her, not shocked, but not happy either. "Because of the reactions you've been getting? They're pretty telling of our society- I'm sorry you have to deal with that."

"To be fair," she says reasonably, "you have to deal with the odd cousin of mine telling you to give in because it's not fair to my self-esteem, so you probably have it just as bad. Lily can certainly hex." She twirls a strand of hair. "I'm not going to die in this suicide, though."

"Oh?" he asks, smirking a bit, and lays down next to her. "You sound like me."

"Not because I don't exist, but because _you're _going to catch me."

He looks up at where the Owlery is standing, only fifty feet away from them. "Jumping off a tower, are we?" he asks.

"Nah, I was thinking the bridge from the grounds to Hogsmeade- how do you feel about boating?" Her tone is light, but she knows that this could all go wrong if he sits in the wrong point of the river, so whether or not he's good at rowing could make or break this plan.

"Hey, it's not flying, but I'll manage," he says, matching her light tone. "What're you going to do afterwards?"

She looks up at the sky, because this hasn't occurred to her yet, this state of not-living that will come afterwards, but she smiles lazily at him anyway. "I dunno, but I've got you, don't I? I won't be bored."

Their conversation descends into lovey-dovey talk after that.

|June 17th, 2023|

It only takes one spell that she'd learned from Al and she's floating gently down to the boat. "Took you long enough," Scorpius comments. "I was beginning to think you'd jumped before I got here- then I heard that arsehole shouting, and I knew it'd only be another few minutes."

She nods, trying to ignore the sobbing she can hear from above that sounds heartbreakingly like Shari. She'll miss them, the people of Hogwarts, and she almost wishes she could tell certain people that it's not real. "Where to?" she asks, trying to break that train of thought.

"The stars," he tells her, and she rolls her eyes.

"Now I _really _want to jump," she tells him, and there's this uncertainty and guilt underneath it that she thinks will never leave, but she'll get used to, and maybe she'll owl her friends one day, but for now, she'll let her message sink in.


End file.
